We recently published a revised version of our Privacy Statement and Terms & Conditions By using this site, you agree to these revised documents including the use of cookies
to enhance your experience. We kindly ask you to take a few minutes to read and understand them.

Adults have one to two alcoholic drinks a day

Maltese drinking higher than the global average

Adults in Malta consume between one and two alcoholic drinks every day, a study published in world-renowned medical journal The Lancet has found.

Drinkers’ prevalence was notably higher in Malta than the global average, which, according to the researchers, stood at 32.5 per cent in 2016.

The study found that 25 per cent of women were current drinkers while the figure went up to 39 per cent for men.

The figures, published as part of a study that evaluated the impact of alcohol use and its burden in 195 countries, show that both men and women were found to have, on average, consumed at least one alcoholic beverage a day in the period under review.

The researchers looked at trends related to alcohol use and its impact on the different countries between 1990 and 2016, looking at the situation for both sexes.

They defined an alcoholic drink as one that contains 10 grams of pure ethanol per serving, the amount found in a glass of wine.

According to the study, between 60 and 79.9 per cent of both men and women were found to be ‘current drinkers’ in 2016, meaning they had consumed alcohol during that year.

The researchers noted that current drinking “varied considerably” by location, with prevalence being higher in those countries with high a socio-demographic index. The index is a summary measure of overall development, based on educational attainment, fertility and income per capita within a location.

The researchers concluded that alcohol use was a “leading risk factor” for global disease burden and caused “substantial health loss”.

“The risk of all-cause mortality, and of cancers specifically, rises with increasing levels of consumption. The level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero,” the study shows.

Popup

Times of Malta Premium

This article is part of our premium content.You have exceeded your 10 free articles for this month.
A subscription is required to access Times of Malta content from overseas.
Register to get 10 free articles per month.

Subscribe to gain access to our premium content and services. Your subscription will also enable you to
view all of the week's e-paper editions (both Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta), view exclusive
content, have full access to our newspaper archive to download editions from 1930 to today, and access the
website in full from overseas. All of this will also be available to you from our tablet and mobile apps.